After everything, Jin-Woo finally obtained the Demon King’s purified blood—the key ingredient for crafting the Elixir of Life. But when he checked the crafting menu, there was a catch: the success rate depended on his intelligence stat, which was basically nonexistent. Still, against all odds, he managed to brew six elixirs like it was nothing.
Now came the real test—would it actually work? Before he could overthink it, Iron pulled up with the fresh corpse of that flying lizard from earlier. Jin-Woo, never one to miss an opportunity, extracted its shadow on the spot, adding a wyvern to his army. The beast was massive and clearly built different. Esil wasted no time clowning Jin-Woo for forgetting the wyvern’s name, so he pulled the most Jin-Woo move possible and named it Kaisel right then and there. Esil got hyped, saying they could ride Kaisel home in no time, and her dad would probably throw them a fancy banquet as thanks.
Amid all these crazy rewards, Jin-Woo unlocked one of the most broken abilities ever: Shadow Exchange. It let him swap places with any shadow in his army, no matter where they were. Basically, it was better than Sasuke’s Rinnegan and Law’s Room combined. That’s when he hit Esil with the “my bad, but you’re on your own” speech. Her castle was 20 floors below, and that was way too far just to eat a fancy dinner. She was this close to confessing her feelings, but before she could, Jin-Woo had already swapped places with one of his knights and teleported straight to a back alley in his own neighborhood. And because being dramatic is in his DNA, he summoned Kaisel and flew home in the flashiest way possible.
Meanwhile, at the Hunter Association, President Go and the inspectors were strategizing to wipe out the mutant ants. They discovered the bugs communicated through sound waves, so Ryuji Goto planned to jam their signal, making it way easier to take down the queen and her guards.
Elsewhere in a sketchy bar, Baek was drowning in booze with retired Rank-S healer Min Byung-Gu. This guy could heal just about anything, but when Baek asked if he’d help with the upcoming mission, Byung-Gu shut him down cold—he had zero interest in returning to that bloodbath. Baek didn’t even try to convince him; he just said goodbye, knowing this might be his last mission. Byung-Gu admitted he retired from hunting because he hated all the bloodshed and had become a teacher instead. Baek, being Baek, told him that was a huge waste of talent.
Back at the hospital, Jin-Woo arrived to see his sleeping beauty of a mom, remembering the day she burned herself protecting him. This was it. He pulled out the elixir but hesitated. What if she couldn’t swallow it? What if it didn’t work? But then he thought about all the miracles the system had already pulled off. If anything could wake her, it was this. The moment she drank it, her burn scars faded. Her wrinkles vanished. She was literally de-aging right before his eyes. Jin-Woo held his breath, praying she would wake up. Sunlight poured through the window, and then—it happened. She opened her eyes. She sat up, healthy, fresh, and looking 20 years younger. Confused, she asked how long she had been out. When Jin-Woo told her it had been four years, she was stunned. She thanked him for keeping his promise, knowing he must have gone through hell to reach this moment. And for the first time in forever, Jin-Woo couldn’t hold back his tears.
The next day, doctors were freaking out—it was the first recorded case of someone waking up from Eternal Slumber Disease. Meanwhile, Jin-Ah rushed in and immediately burst into tears. Their mom was finally back, and Jin-Woo was proud that all his suffering had paid off.
At the press conference, President Go went on live TV to announce the upcoming operation against the mutant ants. The Korean Hunters Association confirmed that ten Rank-S hunters from Japan would join the fight, while Rank-A and lower hunters would stay behind to protect the country.
Meanwhile, Min Byung-Gu was reminiscing about the time he went drinking with Baek and that one friend who didn’t make it. Back at Jin-Woo’s house, his little sister had turned the place into a disaster zone, and their mom—who literally just woke up from a four-year coma—was already cleaning. At this point, she probably wished she’d stayed asleep. She found an old family photo and remembered that their dad pulled the classic “going out for cigarettes” move and never came back. She then saw the news about Jin-Woo becoming a hunter like his father—just as Jin-Ah was flexing about almost becoming a doctor.
Jin-Woo got a call from the Association—President Go and Inspector Gyeol were deep in conversation, wondering what in the hell Thomas Andre, the strongest hunter in America, was doing in South Korea. Was he here to help with the ant invasion or just taking a random vacation? Jin-Woo didn’t get much time to speculate because as soon as he pulled up, President Go hit him with the news: in four days, they were launching a full-scale operation to wipe out the mutant ants.
He asked if Jin-Woo was in.
At first, Jin-Woo hesitated. His mom had just woken up after four years in a coma. For once, he had something to lose. He was this close to saying no—until a monstrous tremor hit the entire building. President Go, somehow calm, looked out the window and said, “Yeah… that’s probably the Rank S Hunters sparring at the Academy.”
Naturally, they invited Jin-Woo to come watch. What he saw was pure chaos—a high-level brawl that looked like it belonged in a final arc of some top-tier anime. Baek, in his Furious Tiger mode, was getting tossed around by a straight-up Judo Master. The guy even cracked a joke about Baek being too young to have all that gray hair.
President Go explained that having all the Rank S Hunters in one place was extremely rare—and that insane energy surge from earlier? Just their warm-up. Jin-Woo was shocked to see Baek struggling, but then Four Eyes Choi Jong-In showed up, calm as ever, saying if Baek actually went all out, Dong-Wook wouldn’t stand a chance. Apparently, when Baek transforms fully, he becomes so terrifying that even the Devil would start sweating.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Rank S Hunters finally arrived, led by none other than Ryuji Goto. One of the Japanese Hunters pointed at Jin-Woo standing above them, asking who the hell that was. Their assistant explained Jin-Woo had just been ranked S. Goto, sensing his insane aura, thought Jin-Woo was some kind of monster assassin—but when told he was a mage? Dude was genuinely shook.
Lim Tae-Gyu noticed Jin-Woo too and immediately realized that was the brat who ruined Mong’s debut. On the flip side, Cha Hae-In was straight-up fangirling like she was watching BTS in concert.
Everyone was laser-focused on Baek vs. Karate Kid, but one of Goto’s assistants started trash-talking, calling the Korean hunters weak. Bad move. That’s when Hwang Dong-Su, the edgy master of the Night Guild, burst in furious that anyone dared talk down to them. One of the Japanese guys, who wasn’t even Rank S, started flexing way too hard, hyped up by his assistant. Cha had to step in and calm the whole mess down before it turned into an international incident.
That’s when Goto made a bold suggestion: a friendly tournament between Korea and Japan’s Rank S Hunters.
President Go, never one to back down, instantly agreed—but with a twist. Mages and non-combatants were excluded. This was gonna be a pure hands-only throwdown.
Baek explained the rules:
- You lose if you get wrist-locked
- Take a hit to the back
- Or touch the ground with anything other than your feet
But instead of boring one-on-one matches, he wanted a battle royale. Pure chaos. Because in the ant operation, it wasn’t going to be a clean duel—it was going to be survival.
Team Korea lined up with:
- Cha Hae-In, the sword queen
- Lim Tae-Gyu, homeless archer swag
- Baek Yoon-Ho, the tiger king himself
Team Japan showed up cocky, with four cracked hunters talking wild, claiming they’d wipe the floor with Korea.
All eyes were on Jin-Woo, wondering if he’d join.
But he just smirked, stepped back into the shadows, and thought, “Y’all go ahead and play. I’ll step in when it’s real.”
Wanna keep going? The tournament’s about to get WILD.
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